Jewish Experiential Learning Seminar

The IJE’s seminar in Jewish Experiential Learning (JEL) tackled the question of how skilled informal educators integrate Jewish learning with experiential education. The field of informal Jewish education has lacked a clear vocabulary to articulate in understandable terms exactly what experiential educators do to promote Jewish learning.

JEL's focus was on the aspects of informal educational practice that most clearly relate to facilitating experiential Jewish learning. The seminar took place over the course of two years from October 2005-March 2007. The participants, selected from among some of the most innovative informal Jewish educators working in the field today, met four times over the two years. Each participant chose a topic in some area of experiential Jewish education to explore and research in their own setting, and their findings were presented at a consultation at Brandeis University in November 2007.